Dobleve

  I don’t mean to give the impression that people aren’t friendly in Spain – in fact just the opposite is true – I have found people to be more friendly here than almost anywhere I’ve been.  However things that are acceptable and not differ between cultures, this is just one example.

  A few weeks ago I went out for tapas in the evening with some friends and took them to one of my favorite places, a very traditional spanish bar.  By traditional I not only mean they had the usual jamon and manchego cheese tapas but it was also a bodega, a place that has casks of wine, sherry and vermouth.  You can also bring your own bottle to a bodega to have it filled!  I think the place is great and I love to drink a vermouth there.  Vermouth here is not what you get in the US – its a dark brown semi-sweet liquor mixed with a splash of soda water, rather than the clear white stuff you gaze across the room at when making a good martini in the US.

  Anyway, my friends and I were enjoying our drinks, our olives and our pate at the bar, when suddenly all hell broke loose at a nearby table.  The conversation in spanish went something like this:

Waiter: What do you mean “you don’t like it”?

Customers (in english): We don’t like it.

Waiter (in spanish):  Why not?

Customers: We don’t like it, we want to send it back.

Waiter: What?  You ordered it.  What’s wrong with it?

(other waiters in the bar yelling): What?  They don’t like it?

Customers: We’re not paying for it and would like our check.

Waiter:  What?  What’s wrong with it? 

… and so on, with the waiters getting increasingly louder in what at this point is a very full bar with everyone very much fixated on the table with the problem.  The manager came out with an even louder voice and the whole discussion occurred again, only even louder.  In Spain, the customer is not always right.  In fact like the hat store, it would be better if they were not encouraged to return and that was made very clear here.

Eventually the couple left, apparently without paying for their food.  The entire waitstaff was not happy about this and groused about it as they moved about the bar with the rest of the customers.  “Can you believe that?”  “Do you like your food”  “Yes!” and so on.

Granted, sometimes food here is a little different than you might be used to, but frankly its also very good food and exactly what you’d expect if you read the menu.  For example if you order smoked salmon and duck liver pate, you probably wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what you got.  You’d more likely be happy at this bar that what you got was an amazingly good serving of it.  This is pretty much what they ordered, and while its very good (we had a similar plate) you have to like it to like it if you know what I mean.

When it came our turn to talk to our waiter for another drink he was still angry about the situation, we heartily said we loved our food and would like another drink.